City Council

CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES CITY OF ODESSA, TEXAS November 1, 2022 On November 1, 2022, a work session meeting of the Odessa City Council was held at 3:01 p.m., Council Chamber, fifth floor, City Hall, 411 W. 8th St., Odessa, Texas. City Council present: Mayor Javier Joven; Council members: Mark Matta, District One; Steven P. Thompson, District Two; Detra White, District Three; Tom Sprawls, District Four; Mari Willis, District Five; and Denise Swanner, At-Large. Others present: Michael Marrero, City Manager; Norma Aguilar-Grimaldo, City Secretary; Natasha Brooks, City Attorney; Cindy Muncy, Assistant City Manager; and other members of City staff. A quorum being present, Mayor Joven called the meeting to order, and the following proceedings were held: Council member Thompson gave the invocation. Discuss the Odessa Rotary Clubs 2022 nominations for the Odessa Rotary Clubs Walkway Walk of Fame at Memorial Gardens Park. Steve Patton, Director of Parks and Recreation, stated that there were three nominations from the Rotary Club for the walkway Walk of Fame at Memorial Gardens. Discuss and consider the report and recommendation regarding public safety compensation from Evergreen Solutions. Michael Misrahi, Evergreen Solutions, reviewed the study goals that included to ensure internal and external equity, survey other peer organizations and recommend a system to close the gaps. The project phases included outreach, classification compensation and solution. The market survey methodology was to collect data, identify benchmarks and analyze averages. The compensation philosophy goal was to map at 66th and 75th percentile of the market. He recommended a 10-step plan for public safety employees with the first half of the plan having a 4% step increase and the last half a 2.5% increase. He reviewed four implementation plans that included bring to step/bring to min, keep current step, class parity and hybrid parity. He stated the step plan would prioritize the recruitment process. Council member Swanner stated that the problem was retention. He discussed the realignment option. The class parity was based on time and the years of credit could be included. The hybrid parity would include full credit in the current and other classifcations, total time. It did not consider performance. He provided a chart for the salary and benefit costs for public safety. He asked for the direction of the market structure to provide a more accurate cost. Mr. Misrahi stated that the added pay was robust and multi-facet. Council member Thompson stated that with the added pay it would be up to 80%. Council member White stated that the hybrid parity would have the least compression. Mr. Misrahi stated that incremental options were available. Council member Thompson stated that the pay was too low and wanted to keep at the 66th percentile with the added pay. The firefighters were behind 7% to 22%. Mayor Joven asked to see the details of the cost per rank. He wanted to address the issue of losing the firefighters from one to five years. He asked for a cost by department. Council member Matta stated that the cadets had a good salary and could add to their base pay after completing the cadet program. John Alvarez, Fire Chief, stated that the cadet program was from six months to one year. Council Work Session Minutes November 1, 2022 Page 2 Mayor Joven asked for information on ranking, salary costs and benefits on only the filled positions. Council member White stated information was received on rank and base salary. The added pay was not factored. Council member Thompson stated that the cost would go up if the vacancies were filled. Council member White recommended the class parity at the 66th percentile. Council member Thompson stated it was a complex issue and how to pay for the salaries. Council member Willis received calls from other employees with concerns. She didn’t want to create a morale problem. She stated to move forward for all City of Odessa employees. Council member Matta stated the firefighter pay issues should have been addressed and solved as the Police Department. Council member Sprawls stated that there would be compression and could not always count on the sales tax. He did not want to have a heavy tax increase to taxpayers. Council member Matta stated that there were ways to cut the budget. Mayor Joven stated that there was not definitive path and there was a transition on the Council. He stated that the police, fire and 9-1-1 could not be privatized. Mr. Misrahi stated a different format would be provided. Council member Willis left the meeting at 4:17 p.m. Discuss ACME auto leasing LLC contract. Robert Doporto, Deputy Police Chief, stated that the contract would be for leasing six vehicles for a total yearly cost of $54,144. Discuss the annual purchase of refuse and self-contained containers for Solid Waste. Michael Bara, Purchasing Manager, stated that the refuse containers were the side loading, self-contained compactors and the carts. The cost for the containers and compacters from Roll-Offs was $282,950 and the carts from Sourcewell was $74,368. Discuss the City of Euless interlocal cooperative purchasing agreement. Mr. Bara stated that cooperative agreement was with the City of Euless. The City of Euless would mirror the Paymentus contract for the City and would not require Euless to go to bid. JoAnn Samaniego, Director of Purchasing, stated that it saved City of Euless time from the bidding process. Discuss executing a PSA with KDC Associates for development, public engagement, design and specifications for downtown improvements. Casey Hallmark, Downtown Odessa Executive Director, stated that there was $7 million from the 2019 Certificates of Obligation for downtown. She recommended a professional services agreement with KDC to provide services to develop wayfinding, site-signage standards, engineering and surveying, ADA improvements and a multi-purpose plaza. The cost was $648,350. Kelly Cook, KDC Associates, stated that the proposed site was at Jackson Ave for the plaza. He provided the reasons for the Jackson location. Discussion was held on the location that included Texas St. The master plan and RFQ identified Jackson Ave. Texas St. had lots of parking. Jackson Ave. had less vehicle traffic, would not impede businesses and lend to a festival street. Mr. Cook stated construction would take six months to two years. Businesses could be impeded if it was on Texas Street. He reviewed the type of services that would be provided. There would be meetings with stakeholders. The services would be eight months to one year before the build out. Ms. Hallmark stated the cost was scaled back with city staff covering certain services. Council member Matta stated it was almost 10% of the $7 million and the process would add another year. Mayor Joven stated it was the third engagement plan for downtown. He stated that three years has passed and there was no progress. Council member White stated that it was part of the COs and it would not be redirected. She stated it was a good project. Mayor Joven asked for the interest amount from the $7 million. Mr. Marrero stated the projects would be done and the funds must be spent in a reasonable amount of time. Craig Stoker stated that the projects over $50,000 Council Work Session Minutes November 1, 2022 Page 3 had to have engineering. Mr. Cook stated that there would be alternates to the base plan. Council had a consensus to move forward. Discuss Microsoft licensing agreement. Mike Parrish, Director of Information Technology, stated that the agreement was for the Microsoft operating systems. The contract was the second year from the three-year term. The cost was $408,288. Discuss renewal of annual HTE Superion software support. Mr. Parrish stated that the software support was for Naviline for a cost of $155,867. Discuss award of purchase for four side load collection trucks and one roll off truck. Thomas Kerr, Director of Public Works/Utilities, stated that three side load trucks were replacements, one side load truck was a supplemental item and one roll off truck. The cost was $1,588,615.78. There was a shortfall of funds that would be covered by the Equipment Service funds. Council member Swanner left the meeting at 5:00 p.m. Discuss contract award for Sewer Line Truck Line “Q”. Mr. Kerr stated that five proposals were received. Line Q would address the growth. He recommended the award to Harper Brothers Construction for $13,447,729 plus a 25% contingency for a total cost of $16,809,661.25. Pioneer Funds would be used. Discuss and seek direction regarding the Waste Recycling RFP submitted by BRI Recycling Services. Mr. Kerr stated that the BRI Recycling Services would expire in January 2023 and it could not continue at the current cost of $60,000 a year. There was an annual recycle of approximately 700 tons of volume. He reviewed the current recycling operations of BRI and City operations. There were two proposals received. He reviewed the semi status quo option at a cost of $96,000 for a two year term. The one change was there would be no commercial collection or processing. He provided a commercial recycling analysis. He reviewed the evaluation and options. Council member Swanner returned to the meeting at 5:13 p.m. The tree branch collection would not be affected. Mayor Joven stated that there was no market for recycling, and it was getting contaminated. The base option would have an additional $11,826 in the budget. The Council had a consensus to go with the base option for recycling. Discuss a Chapter 380 agreement with WFDR Partnership. Mrs. Muncy stated that the Chapter 380 Agreement was for development and expansion and enhance the job opportunity. The agreement was for $7,117,362. There was a minimum investment of $20 million and 100 jobs. The term was for 15 years. She reviewed past projects with Wyly Brown. Mayor Joven stated that there were discrepancies in the agreement and asked that it be clarified. Ms. Brooks would review. Executive Session - As authorized by the Texas Government Code, Section 551.101, the City Council will hold an executive session, which is closed to the public, to discuss the following matters permitted under the following sections of the Texas Government Code: Section 551.071, Consultation with the City Attorney and attorney(s) employed by the City of Odessa Council Work Session Minutes November 1, 2022 Page 4 1. Discuss matters in which the duty of the attorney (s) to the governmental body under the Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct of the State Bar of Texas clearly conflicts with Chapter 551 of the Texas Government Code. 2. Discuss contemplated litigation involving Chapter 387 of the Texas Local Government Code. Motion was made by Council member Thompson and seconded by Council member Swanner to go into executive session under 551.071. The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Joven, Matta, Thompson, White, Sprawls, and Swanner Nay: None Council members White and Sprawls left the meeting at 5:34 p.m. Motion was made by Council member Matta and seconded by Council member Thompson to return from executive session. The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Joven, Matta, Thompson, and Swanner Nay: None Motion was made by Council member Swanner and seconded by Council member Matta to adjourn the meeting. The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Joven, Matta, Thompson, and Swanner Nay: None The meeting adjourned at 6:07 p.m. ATTEST: APPROVED: Norma Aguilar-Grimaldo, TRMC, CMC Javier Joven City Secretary Mayor